"What the Living Do . . . is a deeply beautiful book, with the fierce galloping pace of a great novel."— Boston Globe
Informed by the death of a beloved brother, here are the stories of childhood, its thicket of sex and sorrow and joy, boys and girls growing into men and women, stories of a brother who in his dying could teach how to be most alive. What the Living Do reflects "a new form of confessional poetry, one shared to some degree by other women poets such as Sharon Olds and Jane Kenyon. Unlike the earlier confessional poetry of Plath, Lowell, Sexton et al., Howe's writing is not so much a moan or a shriek as a song. It is a genuinely feminine form . . . a poetry of intimacy, witness, honesty, and relation" (Boston Globe).
What the Living Do: Poems
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Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
This compassionate memorial to illness and the loss of Howe's brother, John, and other friends ably depicts the growth and development of personal bonds against which "post-modern brokenness" is measured. (Howe has also coedited an important collection of essays about AIDS, In the Company of My Solitude, LJ 7/95). This thoughtful analysis of elements of grief ("a living remedy") will perhaps help to ease trauma of death, as does Robert Frost's "Home Burial," but full comprehension of "cherishing" and pain after "the wake and the funeral" seems impossible. The best of these empathetic poems demonstrate a longing for wholeness and appreciation of the "terrified and radiant" mysteries of silence. Sharing "a secret, unrecoverable history" of father, brothers, sisters, and friends?"what the living do"?Howe creates the first draft of a contemporary woman's spiritual biography. For larger collections.?Frank Allen, North Hampton Community Coll., Tannersville, Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
Marie Howe's poetry is luminous, intense, eloquent. -- Stanley Kunitz
What the Living Do . . . is a deeply beautiful book, with the fierce galloping pace of a great novel. -- Boston Globe
What the Living Do . . . is a deeply beautiful book, with the fierce galloping pace of a great novel. -- Boston Globe
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have been carrying around a copy of the title poem from this book ever since I saw it in the Atlantic years ago - and waiting and waiting for Howe's second book to come out. It's worth the wait - a chilling and stunning and beautiful collection of poems, written so straightforwardly, as if Howe were just talking to herself as she walked down the street, or to us over coffee. It takes very hard work to make poetry sound so open and easy, and the style is exactly right for the seriousness of her subject(s): death, child abuse, love. Marie Howe is able to hold the pain in her heart up to the light, and is generous enough to let us stand there for a while with her.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
People have often told me that hearing the word "poetry" sets off high school nightmares of having to "interpret" or decode literature. Such reactions never cease to disappoint me, considering everyone first experiences language through poetry, the playfulness of words. The innate melodies and rhythms that those first tunes bring to life in our early years are revived in Marie Howe's second book of poetry "What the Living Do". Striving for relentless clarity of language and image, Howe has written a painful celebration of "what the living do" after the death of a loved one. These verses, however, are by no means juvenile, confronting head-on the life and death of her brother John as well as the death of poet Jane Kenyon. And amid the suffering Howe's poetry insists there is room for love, for making love. Whatever loss that the poet endures because of her brother's death is countered (complemented perhaps) by her ability to be intimate and inexorably human amid the living. The poems are powerfully memorable, pushing for an aesthetic that is personal yet connective, accessible yet multi-layered. Writing in a language that is uniquely hers and yet entirely ours for the taking, Marie Howe's "What the Living Do" instructs us on how she has found that both praise and misery can undoubtedly inhabit the same swirling space.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By LK
Format:Paperback
"Anything I've ever tried to keep by force I've lost."
Marie Howe captures the gut feelings of living in her striking book of poetry. The pain of losing her brother to AIDs resonates through the later poems, while the earlier focus on the manic emotions of childhood. Even people uncomfortable with poetry will enjoy reading the universal memories she's translated so touchingly into the written word. This is not esoteric verse: it is clean, familiar, moving moments of time frozen under the glass of a copyright. Howe expresses just what the living do as a melody that swoops and soars. She also underscores her poetry with a deep harmony indicative of the void in life, a hole in one's heart that was once devoted to a loved one.
"But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass, say, the window of the corner video store, and I'm gripped by a cherishing for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I'm speechless: I am living, I remember you."
Marie Howe captures the gut feelings of living in her striking book of poetry. The pain of losing her brother to AIDs resonates through the later poems, while the earlier focus on the manic emotions of childhood. Even people uncomfortable with poetry will enjoy reading the universal memories she's translated so touchingly into the written word. This is not esoteric verse: it is clean, familiar, moving moments of time frozen under the glass of a copyright. Howe expresses just what the living do as a melody that swoops and soars. She also underscores her poetry with a deep harmony indicative of the void in life, a hole in one's heart that was once devoted to a loved one.
"But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass, say, the window of the corner video store, and I'm gripped by a cherishing for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I'm speechless: I am living, I remember you."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Favorite Book of Poetry
You should buy poetry that speaks to your experiences and what moves and motivates you. This is my absolute favorite book of poetry and will never give it up.
Published 1 month ago by chemsafety51
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deeply thought-provoking
Not a light book of poems, but truly stirring and real. You feel the emotion of the author as you read each entry.
Published 1 month ago by Barbara Howlett
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unforgettable
I read the title poem "What the Living Do" in another collection and I can't get it out of my head. It is such a simple poem, and yet so profoundly moving. Read more
Published 5 months ago by G.M. Malliet
5.0 out of 5 stars
beautiful personal narratives
Marie Howe writes beautiful, moving personal narrative poetry that will affect even the most stoic reader. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Laurel Blick
5.0 out of 5 stars
What's the Living To Do
I took a Poetry Writing Workshop with the author and was first exposed to her writings and found her poetry and the book a world of inspiration and touching upon the feelings that... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Writer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reaches wounded souls
The second of nine children in an Irish Catholic family, Marie Howe writes in these poems of her childhood, and her perspective as an adult looking back. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Alyssa A. Lappen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterful.
Marie Howe's language and tone are exquisite. She weaves narratives into tiny spaces and makes them shine with raw emotion. Beautiful.
Published on March 22, 2011 by A. Menchavez
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Quality/Fast Shipping
Book is in very good shape and it got to me in about 3 days. Thanks so much!
Published on August 28, 2010 by Laura
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some good things, but not my idea of poetry
The definition of prose is the ordinary form of written language. The word "prose" is derived from the Latin word prose, which literally translates to "straightforward". Read more
Published on November 25, 2009 by TL
5.0 out of 5 stars
Came out of nowhere, and became one of my absolute favorites!
The value of life haunted by those who have lost it: simple, grounded, and devastatingly beautiful. This book is one of the very few things I believe in. Read more
Published on September 18, 2007 by A. Osman
